Before we get into the meat of this article, it’s important that you understand how we classify a player as a power forward. In the NHL it’s a player who possesses both skill and grit, but for our purposes a power forward is simply someone who is a decent bet to record at least 40 points and a safe bet to finish with a minimum of 60 penalty minutes. That might not work for the NHL at large, but in the numbers-based world of fantasy hockey, it’s nice to have a clear-cut definition.
Of course certain leagues value hits and we will get to that later, but for the top-10 list below we are pulling exclusively from the group that meets our points/PIM requirements. That actually gave us a very small pool to pull from this season as many valuable players fall just shy of the threshold of being “safe” bets for 60 PIM. Ryan Getzlaf, for example, had 62 PIM in 2014-15 and 55 last season, so there’s a decent chance he’ll end up with at least 60 this season, but it’s not good enough to call it safe, so you won’t find his name on this top-10 list.
With that established, here are my picks for the 10 best power forwards in 2016-17:
1) Jamie Benn - Benn was excluded from last year’s list because I wasn’t comfortable calling him a safe bet to reach the 60 penalty minute mark, but after recording 64 penalty minutes in each of his last three seasons, I’m willing to put him on the list at this point. Benn meeting that PIM requirement was the only thing preventing him from being named as the first overall last time and naturally he’s on first on this year’s list given his eligibility. There just simply isn’t many forwards better than Benn and certainly none that provide as many PIM as he does.
2) Wayne Simmonds - Simmonds was a superb fantasy asset last season with 32 goals, 60 points, and 147 penalty minutes. He might not be able to stay around that level in terms of penalty minutes, but he should still spend more time in the sin bin than most, if not all of the other players on this list. After all, that was the fourth time he’s exceeded the 100-PIM mark in a single season. On top of that he should once again flirt with the 30-goal and 60-point marks.
3) Corey Perry - Perry might not have another 82-point season in him to replicate his 2013-14 success, but he’s still a solid 30-goal, 60-point player with the potential to do mildly better than that this season. The fact that he also logs 60-70 penalty minutes is a nice bonus. Ultimately there’s two reasons why I listed him above Malkin. The first was Malkin’s injury history, which I’ll discuss more below, and the second was the fact that Perry has enjoyed three straight 30-plus goal seasons while Malkin hasn’t reached that milestone since 2011-12.
4) Evgeni Malkin - Malkin’s health has been an ongoing issue with him as he has logged 60, 69, and 57 games in each of his last three campaigns. It’s a shame because the number of point-per-game players in this league are slim and the number of point-per-game power forwards essentially consists of just him and Benn. Ultimately, I don’t trust Malkin to stay healthy for the entire 2016-17 campaign, but even a Malkin that only plays in 60-something games is better than most other players’ 82-game seasons.
5) Brad Marchand - Marchand is coming off a huge season where he had 37 goals, 61 points, and 90 penalty minutes. If I anticipated him replicating those numbers I’d have him higher on this list, but as it is I think he’s probably going to suffer a mild regression in terms of goals and points. Even then he’s still a great fantasy option, but I think the 28-year-old forward is in danger of being a little overestimated going into fantasy drafts.
6) Milan Lucic - Lucic had 20 goals, 55 points, and 79 penalty minutes, which is a fairly good season by his standards, but certainly not an anomaly. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him do that again, but there’s an X-factor with Lucic signing with the Edmonton Oilers. Is it possible that he’ll play with Connor McDavid this season? Even if he doesn’t, he’ll likely be alongside some very talented forwards, but that was also the case in Los Angeles. The difference is that Los Angeles didn’t have anyone with McDavid’s offensive upside and that pairing could be very potent for Lucic. It would also make some sense for Edmonton given that it would allow Lucic to serve as McDavid’s protector.
7) Max Domi - Max Domi had a strong rookie campaign with 18 goals, 52 points, and 72 penalty minutes. That’s just a taste of what the 21-year-old is capable of, but sophomore campaigns are a bit hard to predict. Some players, even the talented ones, find it difficult to keep pace after their rookie season. Domi is certainly something of a risk this season and that’s why he’s as low on this list as he is, but he also has the potential to end up being one of the league’s top-three power forwards, if not this season, then in the future.
8) Gabriel Landeskog - Landeskog had 69 points in 81 games back in 2013-14, but he’s seen his production decline since then to 59 points in 2014-15 and then 53 points last season. At this point it might be best to regard him as a 50-60 point player, but he certainly has the potential to finish above that range. He should also provide fantasy owners with 60-80 penalty minutes.
9) David Backes - Backes is coming off a somewhat rough season by his standards as he finished with 21 goals, 45 points, and 83 penalty minutes in 79 games. Now with Boston, we could see him doing a bit better in 2016-17, but we’re not expecting a big jump. He’s typically good for 50 points and 100 penalty minutes though, even if he fell below those milestones last season.
10) Scott Hartnell - Is Hartnell on the decline at the age of 34? It’s too early to say, but one troubling sign is that he averaged just 15:35 minutes per game last season, down from 17:18 minutes the previous campaign. It seems coach John Tortorella vision for Hartnell has him in a somewhat smaller role than Todd Richards and that could hinder him offensively. At the end of the day, Hartnell’s 2015-16 campaign was a step below his previous showing, but still very good with 23 goals, 49 points, and 112 penalty minutes. It’d be best to expect something in that ballpark again in 2016-17, though his age and diminished role under Tortorella are sizeable X-factors.
For most fantasy owners, the only category that speaks to the physical nature of the game that they have to consider is penalty minutes. However, among the non-standard statistical categories to use, one of the most common is hits. With that in mind, we’re going to be providing a second top-10 list below that defines power forwards a little differently. This time around the players still have to be a decent bet to record 40 penalty minutes, but they also have to meet one of the following two requirements: Either they must be a safe bet to record both 60 penalty minutes and 100 hits OR they need to be a safe bet to finish with at least 150 hits. In other words, a player that excels in terms of hits is eligible for this list even if they don’t spend much time in the sin bin.
Of particular note, these requirements make Corey Perry ineligible because while he did get 104 hits last season, he typically falls below that level and is thus note a safe bet to reach that milestone again. Evgeni Malkin, Brad Marchand, and Max Domi will also not be on the list below for the same reason.
1) Jamie Benn - Once again Benn take’s the top slot. Hits doesn’t exactly help him much seeing as his 156 in 2015-16 isn’t exactly impressive compared to most of the others on this list and he’ll probably do a bit worse this season. Even still, his status as a potential 40-goal, 90-point player makes him hard to beat.
2) Alex Ovechkin - Ovechkin hasn’t recorded at least 60 PIM in a single season since 2009-10, but he has come close with 58 and 53 penalty minutes in each of his last two seasons. On the hits side though, he’s impressive with at least 200 in each of his last five campaigns, excluding the lockout shortened 2013 season. Of course, he’s also won the Rocket Richard Trophy an incredible four consecutive years and six times over the course of his career. The reason why Benn edged him out though is his decline in point production. While Ovechkin has been great at finding the back of the net, he hasn’t recorded at least 30 assists in a season since 2010-11.
3) Wayne Simmonds - Simmonds set a new career-high in 2015-16 with 192 hits, breaking his previous personal best of 168 in 2014-15. I don’t expect him to set a new benchmark yet again, but he should be good for at least 150 hits this season if he stays healthy.
4) Milan Lucic - Adding hits to the equation certainly helps Lucic as he has been credited with at least 240 of those in each of his last three campaigns. That shouldn’t diminish this season in Edmonton, especially seeing as he’ll be task with protecting the Oilers’ young core.
5) Brayden Schenn - Schenn doesn’t really bring much to the table in terms of penalty minutes as he’s logged just 67 PIM over his last two seasons. He’s more noteworthy when it comes to hits though with at least 185 in each of his last three campaigns. More importantly, he seems to finally coming into his own offensively as he scored 26 goals and 59 points in 80 contests last season. It seems reasonable to believe he can perform at roughly that level again in 2016-17.
6) David Backes - Backes is another player that’s help by adding hits to the equation. He had 239 hits in 2015-16 and has recorded at least 200 for eight straight campaigns, excluding the lockout shortened 2013 season.
7) Gabriel Landeskog - As you’ll notice, Landeskog fell behind Backes in the rankings when hits were added to the equation. Backes had 98 more hits than Landeskog’s 141 last season and he could surpass Landeskog by a similar margin again in 2016-17.
8) Scott Hartnell - Hartnell’s the last player to appear on both power forward lists. He’s not particularly noteworthy in the hits category though as he was credited with just 131 last season.
9) Ryan Kesler - Kesler was eligible for both lists, but he fell short of the top-10 in the other. He’s a fair bet to get 45-55 points this season along with 70-90 penalty minutes. In terms of hits he’s had 169 and 168 in each of his last two seasons, which is a fair estimate for what he’ll do in 2016-17. All-in-all, Kesler is a fairly low-risk player, but he’s also one that doesn’t put up the kind of numbers that excites fantasy owners.
10) Brandon Dubinsky - Dubinsky finished the 2015-16 campaign with 17 goals, 48 points, 71 penalty minutes, and 235 hits in 75 games. None of those statistics are out of the ordinary for him when he stays relatively healthy for a full campaign and so long as manages to pass the 70-game mark again in 2016-17, I don’t see why the 30-year-old forward can’t largely replicate last season’s showing. He might even end up with more PIM as he’s typically been good for over a penalty minute per game over the course of his career.
